Furyk to make PGA Tour return next week in Charlotte

Aug 28, 2015; Edison, NJ, USA; Jim Furyk plays from the 11th tee during the second round of The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Eric Sucar-USA TODAY Sports

(Reuters) - Jim Furyk will end a wrist injury absence of nearly eight months when he returns to competition at next week’s Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, the PGA Tour announced on Friday.

The 45-year-old American, a 17-times winner on the U.S. circuit, will also tee it up the following week at the PGA Tour’s flagship Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

”I think the recovery has been pretty good,“ Furyk told pgatour.com. ”I think (I‘m) where I expected. I‘m kind of working through some scar tissue in the wrist.

“I‘m starting to play a little golf again. I’ve been a little cautious about trying to play a bunch of days in a row, really trying to bring it along ... cautiously.”

Furyk has been sidelined since he was forced to withdraw after just six holes at the BMW Championship last September due to a bone contusion in his left wrist.

In a bid to regain full health, he also pulled out of the season-ending Tour Championship the following week, as well as the Presidents Cup team competition in South Korea in October.

After Furyk’s wrist problem did not respond to medical treatment, he decided to have surgery on it in early February.

Having now spent more than seven months on the sidelines, his world ranking has slipped to 24th from a career-high of world number two.

Furyk had not pulled out of a PGA Tour event in 20 years, a span of 477 straight events dating back to the 1995 Western Open, until his early withdrawal from the 2015 BMW Championship.